The state courts system has been decimated by cuts in recent years and courthouse closures have outraged communities. But legal disputes of every kind continue, and continue to escalate. According to the League of California Cities, there are now 81 lawsuits against the State stemming from the aftermath of Redevelopment.

According to an update sent on Friday, most of the 81 lawsuits can be filed into four categories: Affordable Housing Obligations; Challenges to decisions made by the DOF about low- and moderate-income housing due diligence reviews; Constitutional challenges to the claw-back provisions; and challenges to ABx1 26.

The litany of cases pending regarding the hasty end of redevelopment have arisen out of what some public officials have described to PublicCEO as a lack of thoughtful and effective alternatives to litigation. The Meet-and-Confer appeals process that the state uses to address challenges to the Department of Finance has proven a vexing process, rarely offering a solution and commonly being viewed as simply a step on the way to courts.

It’s an issue that the California Contract Cities Association addressed during its legislative trip in January, asking members in the State Assembly and Senate to find alternatives for agencies to explore.

Instead, the Department of Finance has issued 30-day notices to 42 cities, a warning that the state would withhold sales and use taxes from cities that fail to release their claw-back payments to the auditor-controller.